New Year’s Resolution

This week I’ve been actively pursuing my New Year’s resolution by being filmed for a Māori Television programme called Ōpaki. If you haven’t heard of it, I recommend watching a few episodes – and not just because I’m going to be on the show! It’s actually a great way to upskill in te reo Māori, no matter what level you’re at. That’s mainly thanks to the the awesome presenter, Pānia Papa.

That’s Pānia Papa, closest to the camera in this photo – along with me and the two other women who were filmed with me. In the other photo, we are sitting with Horomona Horo, a master of traditional Māori musical instruments who was a guest on one of the shows we recorded.

I hadn’t heard about Ōpaki until late last year when my friend Aoife Finn told me about it. She watches episodes on demand from her home in Ireland, and finds the programme really helpful for her own learning of te reo Māori. So I thought, if Aoife can do that from across the world, then I can do it too! I have been really impressed with the episodes I’ve had time to watch so far. And then I found out that they were looking for new people to appear on Ōpaki! So I applied and was lucky enough to be accepted for filming this week. The programmes I’m on won’t go to air for a few months – so keep an eye on this page and I’ll be sure to let you know.

But don’t wait until then to upskill in te reo. Thanks to ‘on demand’ television, you can make progress with your Māori language goals any time you like. So if, like me, your goal is to increase your confidence and ability to kōrero Māori, then just go to Māori Television’s website and check out their programmes under the “language learning” category. Ōpaki is only one of many excellent language learning programmes you can watch there. That’s certainly what I’ll be doing in my spare time this year.

Of course there are lots of other ways to increase your fluency with te reo. Some people prefer classes, which is how I started learning. Others like books. Even though our Te Reo Singalong books are designed for children, they are also helping lots of adults to learn more te reo. That’s because the songs help with the pronunciation, which is a crucial part of language learning. If you haven’t already tried the books in our award winning series, you can look and listen on our website’s home page. Kia kaha!